WMAR-2 News is taking an in focus look at the origins of the Red Line and how we got to his point.
The history spans five governors and more than 2 decades.
In September of 2001, when Democratic Governor Parris Glendening was serving his second term, the Maryland Secretary of Transportation at the time, John Poracari created the Baltimore Region Rail System Plan Advisory Committee.
The organization of the committee was a way to help fulfill Glendening's stated goal of "doubling transit ridership in Maryland" according to the report the committee submitted the following year.
While the report included several proposed lines, the red line was one of the priority projects identified in the report and the one that was ultimately pursued.
Below is a screenshot from the report of the recommendations for a possible future rail system.
As described in the report, "The Red Line will be the first east-west rail line in Baltimore."
Some of the advantages of the Red Line from that 2002 report were to improve travel times, "improve access to Baltimore's economic growth and redevelopment areas," and to strengthen revitalization efforts in specific neighborhoods.
According to the new Red Line website, over the next 10 years, several analyses of the project were done including environmental impacts and preliminary engineering stages.
The Federal Transit Administration accepted the environmental impact statement in late 2012 and it issued it's official record of decision in 2013.
RELATED: Red Line transit project revitalized by Governor Wes Moore
During the engineering process, the Red Line was scrapped.
In 2015, newly elected Governor Larry Hogan axed the project, saying that the state couldn't afford the projects multi-billion dollar price tag.
"In 2015, the Red Line project was cancelled, but the insights and commitments from the previous community engagement provide a strong foundation upon which the project can build during the relaunch of the project in 2023." - redlinemaryland.com
Had the project moved forward as planned, according to Baltimore City's website page on the project, the Red Line would've been projected to have been operational last year.
Gov. Wes Mooreconfirmed on June 27, 2024 that the mode of transit will be light rail. (Bus Rapid Transit, which relies on dedicated bus lanes, was also on the table.)
The exact alignment is expected to be announced by the end of 2024.